May 07th, 2008

S4's Ryan Lynch had a letter to the editor published by US News & World Report. Below is the letter, which highlights the need to reform Social Security in a way that is fair to people of all income levels:

If "Many Say Social Security is Healthy Enough" [usnews.com] was a joke, today's young people aren't laughing.

As our generation scrambles to pay off student loans and save for that one-quarter of promised Social Security benefits we won't receive, it seems that many are searching for ways to make the program an even worse deal for future retirees. Sure, we could bring Social Security into long-term balance by raising the retirement age yet again, but what about the fact that those who rely most on Social Security also have the shortest life expectancies? We do need to restore fiscal health to Social Security, but we must do so with a sound conscience.

Way to go, Ryan!

Allison Kasic's Townhall article Beyond Obama is an informative look at how "Obamamania" can be harnessed to engage young voters in substantive issues that will have a large impact on their life in the future.

Kasic writes, "It’s crucial that young voters focus on the many pressing issues of concern to them and future generations."

She continues to say "Take Social Security, for example. In 2017 Social Security will start to pay our more money in benefits than it collects in taxes, and by the time, today’s college students retire, the program will be able to pay only 74% of promised benefits. Unless reform happens soon, young voters will face massive tax hikes, massive benefit cuts, or some combination of the two."

Read her entire article here.

April 28th, 2008

Today S4 held a "Take a Slice!" pizza event at Mt. Holyoke College.  Despite the somewhat rainy weather, we were able to spread the word about Social Security, asking students to "take a slice, because the government is taking MORE than slice from your paycheck"

Students responded positively to our free pizza event.  And not just because of the free food...one student said, "I would sign this petition even if there was no pizza involved!!" Booyah!

April 19th, 2008

S4 handed signed up over 350 students yesterday at the University of Arizona, and handed out over 400 slices of pizza. Read all about it here.

April 16th, 2008

The Department of Treasury today published the fourth in a series of six papers about Social Security reform .  The brief, titled "Social Security Reform: Mechanisms for True Pre-Funding," is a good argument against the claim that the trust fund really does exist.  The brief also outlines four options for creating a real trust fund.

1. Give the Social Security surplus back to workers in the form of personal accounts.

2. Assign the surplus at an individual level, but limit investment to government debt.

3. Invest the surplus in private assets.  These assets would be owned by the government, not by individuals.

4. Invest the surplus in marketable federal debt.  As in option 3, the surplus would remain under government control. 

We'll see what the response is to today's issue brief.  At the very least, it should be now be clear to everyone that the surplus does not represent true pre-funding.  This will be important news to all of the senators who voted this year against the DeMint Amendment, which would have protected the Social Security surplus.